Despite their religion’s origins in the Middle East, a miniscule percentage of Christians remain in that region, a recent survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life revealed.

According to the Pew Research Center’s newly released December 2012 “Global Religious Landscape Study,” just 0.6 percent of the world’s 2.2 billion Christians now live in the Middle East and North Africa. Overall, Christians comprise only 4 percent of the region’s population, down from more than 20 percent from a century ago, the Times of Israel reported.

Meanwhile, 93 percent of the region is Muslim and just 1.6 percent is Jewish.

The shrinking number of Christians in the region can be attributed to a number of factors, including wealth, education, low birthrates and persecution. Today an increasing number of Middle East Christians, especially Egyptian and Syrian Christians, are fleeing the region due to the rise of Islamic extremism associated with the Arab Spring revolutions.